Burkina Faso: Colonel-Major Simporé plans to compel the armed groups to capitulate by enhancing the ongoing offensive strategy
The new Head of the Burkinabe army, Colonel-Major Celestin Simpore, said on Thursday that he wants to intensify the offensive to force jihadists who have been causing bloodshed in Burkina Faso since 2015 « To lay down their weapons».
The ongoing offensive momentum in recent weeks will be intensified to compel armed groups to lay down their weapons,” said Colonel-Major Simpore, who was appointed on Friday, during a command takeover ceremony in Ouagadougou.
He added: «This will be done, for certain operations, in coordination with the sister armies of neighboring countries», he added.
«Our fighting forces have taken a significant turn in the conduct of the war, with an extreme intensification of pressure on terrorist armed groups», continued the officer.
He praised the «results achieved since December and particularly in recent weeks».
“The objective now is to maintain this momentum to definitively reverse the trend,” he said.
The outgoing Chief of Staff, who was in office since 2022, Colonel-Major David Kabre, for his part, stated that «the first signs of victory are perceptible, and now, more than ever, efforts must be intensified».
Previously the Deputy Chief of Staff and Commander of Operations of the National Theater (COTN in French), Colonel-Major Simpore was appointed by Captain Ibrahim Traore, the transitional president who came to power through a coup on September 30, 2022, the second in eight months.
This fifty-year-old officer is a graduate of the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France.
Since the recent acquisition of aerial combat capabilities, the army has regularly released videos of strikes on columns or gatherings of suspected jihadists, stating that the reconquest and securing of the entire territory are underway.
Yannick H.
